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The infield fly rule is a rule of baseball and softball that treats certain fly balls as though caught, before the ball is caught, even if the infielder fails to catch it or drops it on purpose. The umpire 's declaration of an infield fly means that the batter is out (and all force plays are removed) regardless of whether the ball is caught.
The technique is quite common in softball because of the difficulty of getting a hit with a pitcher only 40 feet (12 m) away. By already being in the front of the batter's box with the batter's body turned halfway toward first base , the batter already has some momentum toward first base and might be in better position to get a base hit.
Martinez also had a 5.8% "infield fly ball percentage", [18] meaning that 5.8% of the fly balls he hit were infield pop-ups. [ 17 ] In 2010, FanGraphs noted that the "league average" for batted ball rates was 44% ground balls, 35% fly balls, and 21% line drives (the three figures sum to 100%) with 11% of fly balls being infield pop-ups.
"[An infield fly] is alive and runners may advance at the risk of the ball being caught, or retouch and advance after the ball is touched, the same as on any fly ball. If the hit becomes a foul ...
The infield, containing the four bases, is for general defensive purposes bounded by the foul lines and within the grass line (see figure). The outfield is the grassed area beyond the infield grass line between the foul lines and bounded by a wall or fence. Foul territory is the entire area outside the foul lines.
Allchin was out on the infield fly, but the runners advanced a base. Torres left the game and was replaced at second by Avery Hodge. “That’s tough,” Sooners coach Patty Gasso said of Torres ...
This is to preclude the catcher dropping the ball on purpose to set up force plays — the same idea behind the infield fly rule. Note the lack of reference to the strike zone, called strikes, or the concept of a "ball" or a "base on balls." Those adjustments developed over time to counter "ungentlemanly" strategies, and hurry the game up:
This rule continues in baseball today, but catcher became a required position, and starting in the mid-19th century, catchers began moving up to their current position directly behind home plate so as to catch pitches (now following a flatter trajectory) directly on the fly. Thus the rule became mostly vestigial and its original children's-game ...